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Five Questions That Can Help You Do a Better Job

No matter what your job is, do it well.

We all want to do good work that makes a difference. No matter the job. Being a firefighter, nurse, working in the construction industry, at a computer screen, tuning an engine, cooking a meal, making a sale, fixing something that is broken, making someone smile, providing love and support to someone in need, making a home, raising a family… the list is endless.

Here are five questions you must ask (and answer) to do good work.

ONE: Why am I doing this?
Why does this matter to you and what different end result will it bring about? These are questions of motivation and purpose. If it doesn’t matter much to you, you won’t do good work. If you don’t care about the results you get – you won’t put your heart and soul into what you are doing. Passion, conviction, and love fuel great work.

TWO: How well am I doing this?
Assessment, evaluation, and an accurate awareness is needed for great work. To work efficiently and effectively that gets desired results (productivity and fruitfulness), you need to take a good look at how you work. The problem is our distortion bias. It is difficult for us to accurately assess our own work. Especially if there are not standards and goals in place.

For example, if you are making five widgets an hour, you don’t know how well you are doing until you know the standard and expectation is to make ten widgets an hour, or three widgets an hour. The numbers make all the difference. And if your widgets work. If you make ten widgets an hour but only four of them work, you aren’t working “well enough.” Without some attempt to measure, you simply won’t know how “well” you are working.

THREE: What more do I need to do good work?
Do you have the resources, the tools, the team, the environment, the _________ (fill in the blank) to do good work? If you don’t have what you need, then doing good work will be very hard. I believe one of the great tasks of leadership is to get others the resources they need to do good work.

FOUR: What else can I do?
This question is exploring the boundaries, scope of your work, parameters, and current ways of working. Is there something more, different, new, unexpected, or creative you could add to your work? This question is the question of creativity, exploration, and improvement.

FIVE: Who can help me?
In our individualistic culture, we often forget to ask this question. Many of the things we do need a team to do them well. Begin thinking who do you know that is available to train, teach, assist, and encourage you? Find someone who can troubleshoot with you. Is there a person to tag-team and relieve you?

Ask these questions about your work. Jot down some answers and see what you discover. Put these items into action in small steps to help you do even better work and what you are called to do.